Famous Singers of To-day and Yesterday

CHAPTER I.

FROM 1600 TO 1800 A. D.

The year 1600 marked the beginning of a new era in musical history, for in that year the first public performance of regular opera took place in Florence, when the "Eurydice" of Rinuccini and Peri was given in honor of the wedding of Marie de' Medici and Henry IV. of France. The growth and ever-increasing popularity of the oper...